Shelke makes a fanfiction
by Bubie and Polly
Summary: In order to rehabilitate from the DeepGround incident, Vincent attempts to write a fanfiction with Shelke. Lo and behold, a love triangle will appear, coughYuffie, and make the vampire's life miserable
1. Dry Humor

Shelke makes a fanfiction.

There once was a bar called 7th Heaven. The owner was hot.

Within this so called bar habited a party of fantasy fighters that have kicked much butt. They kicked Sephiroth's butt, they kicked Kadaj's butt. They even kicked Omega's butt. Somehow.

Anyways, it was 7 a.m. The bar wasn't open yet but Tifa was already downstairs prepping. As she wiped the glasses, she stared at the girl sitting in one of the booths next to the window. The girl had orange hair that were spiked sideways or something. She wore a pink fluffy-looking turtleneck with no sleeves. She also wore caprice pants that made her little legs look curvy.

The girl was looking out the window, arms resting on her legs. Tifa thought of her as an alien robot. But that was because of her slaving lifestyle that she had just escaped. Tifa felt sorry for her.

Suddenly, a well-known ninja girl ran down the stairs. Tifa immediately hid all the fragile drinking glasses as Yuffie slid across the entire counter. The ninja then fell in a heap at the end. Shelke was still staring outside. Yuffie slid next to Shelke, occupying her personal space. Any normal person would've been uncomfortable at this point but since Yuffie's a dunce while Shelke was aloof, nothing was happening.

"So," Yuffie started. "How are things?"

"Fine. Thank you." said Shelke, not paying attention.

"Um, you could at least face me."

Shelke turned around, brushing her nose against Yuffie's. The ninja held her breath as their lips were an inch away.

"Yuffie. I adore you," said the monotone girl. Suddenly, Shelke placed her hand on Yuffie's exposed leg. The ninja screamed and jumped out of the booth. Tifa was equally stunned.

"W-What was that?!" yelled Yuffie.

Shelke stared at the two women and said in a robotic voice. "My apologies, Yuffie. I was trying to be humorous." Shelke then turned towards the window again.

Yuffie and Tifa sighed. There was thumping from the stairs and in walked Cid, the cursing airship captain.

"Yo Cid," said Tifa.

Cid waved at them and then looked at Shelke.

"Oh, that's here," he said.

"Cid!" yelled the girls.

"Just joking," laughed Cid. "Where's Cloudy-boy?"

"Oh, he's riding Fenrir. He said he's losing his touch."

Cid was about to walk towards a stool when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to see a man in a suit. He looked extremely well cut and had short black hair.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Cid.

"How'd you get inside?" yelled Tifa.

The man looked confused. He then reached into his jacket.

"Watch out!" yelled Cid. The two men started fighting in close quarters. Yuffie ran to help Cid fend off the strange man.

The man caught Yuffie's kick and Cid's punch at the same time. The man then knocked them off balance, making them roll on the floor. The man ducked just in time to avoid Tifa's punch. Tifa swung a kick but the man flipped away over the two on the floor and towards Shelke.

"Stop him Shelke!" yelled Yuffie.

Shelke looked at the man, making eye contact.

"You are late, Vincent Valentine."

The three stared at the two. The man reached into his jacket and pulled out a handgun.

"Sorry," the man said in a raspy (and to fan girls, sexy) voice. "Took me some time to find Cerberus."

"I thought you kept it under your pillow," said Shelke.

"Good one."

The two then laughed, Vincent with a dry chuckle while Shelke giggled once and only once.

Tifa, Yuffie, and Cid concluded that they have been mind blown. Yuffie ran up to Vincent.

"That was the lamest conversation in the world!" she yelled.

"Gotta start somewhere." Yuffie noticed the Vincent's shoulders looked broader in his suit. His face was also clearer without the messy hair and headband. Yuffie never really looked at his face until now.

"So you two dating or something?" said Cid.

Yuffie whipped around, suddenly flustered.

"Vincent dating?" she said in a loss of breath. "No way!"

The front door opened and in walked Cloud with his taped sunglasses.

"Vincent."

"Cloud."

The two emos suddenly raised their hand and did the unthinkable: the high-five. They clapped, shooting the forbidden sound into the air. Cloud then walked towards the stairs, waving at the awestruck watchers.


	2. Mystery Girl

Shelke makes a fanfiction

It has been two hours since Vincent sat with Shelke in that booth. Tifa came back from grocery shopping to see that the two were still sitting there across from each other, not talking or moving. Tifa then looked at the counter to see Yuffie's head go back under.

"So what are you guys doing?" asked Tifa as she set down her bags over Yuffie so she couldn't see. "I've never seen you guys so full of energy like this."

Shelke turned to Tifa like a robot, which was kind of scary if you saw her do that.

"We are rehabilitating," droned Shelke.

"By sitting there?"

"Yes, this much fresh air is good for us."

"This much?"

"Yes."

"You two could go for a walk," suggested Tifa.

"A walk?" responded Vincent.

"Yeah. Better than sitting here. There's a whole world out there."

"I've already traveled all of that," said Vincent.

"Has Shelke?" asked Tifa

Vincent looked at Shelke, who shook her head.

"Thanks for the tip, Tifa," said Vincent smoothly.

"Uh...wait, did I just jumpstart your fruitless imagination?"

"Apparently, Tifa Lockheart."

"Just call me Tifa."

"Ti...fa?"

Yuffie popped out from behind the counter, angry.

"Just go already! You two are dolts!" she screamed.

Tifa put her hand over Yuffie's hand and tried to apologize. In a very inhuman way, the two stood up, completely ignoring the negativity and obvious jealousy from the ninja girl. The two then walked up to the door. Vincent put a hand in front of Shelke, stopping in her tracks. Vincent then opened the door and held it open. He then bowed slightly to Shelke, his left arm crossing his stomach to show Shelke out.

"Please come out," said Vincent.

"Oh. I've never seen that gesture. My apologies."

The two then walked out side by side. Tifa sighed while Yuffie slapped herself in the face.

"This is Edge," said Vincent, pointing at the city. They walked along the streets, surprised that they weren't scaring people away. On the contrary, with Vincent's suit and Shelke's casual wear, they looked like a decent couple.

"Ah. Anything in particular?"

"The author is Wiki-ing it now."

"Alright. Why did your friends not recognize you?"

"I haven't changed my attire for 100 or so years."

"They must've seen you go upstairs to change."

"I guess they didn't notice, even Cid who was talking to me directly about getting a life. How do they treat you there?"

"In the 7th Heaven?"

"Yes. I heard it was hell living there."

"They treat me fine. Beer tastes strange though."

"Bet its better than mako."

"Yes."

Unnoticed by them, a mischievous girl was running from a distance behind them, hiding behind boxes and whatnot. Yuffie-I mean, mystery girl was spying the two intensely, writing down notes on a stolen notepad.

"_Walking down the street. Hopefully no hand-to-hand contact_."

Down the street, Vincent and Shelke prepared to walk across an intersection. A vehicle, closely resembling a 30's car, veered through dangerously. In an instant, Vincent wrapped both arms around Shelke, pulled her close to him and stood between her and the car. The car missed and crashed into a public fountain. As the people congregated around, Vincent and Shelke stepped out. One of his arms was still holding her.

"I knew it was coming, Vincent."

"Sorry, it was instinct. Not everyone is a super soldier." He then noticed his arm and took it off her. "Sorry."

If you looked at Shelke from the right angle, you could see a faint blush creep onto her face. Unfortunately, Yuf-MYSTERY girl saw exactly that and snapped her pencil with one hand.

"Cyber café?" asked Shelke as she read the sign.

"Let's go in," said Vincent as he swung the glass door open. He then held out his hand to Shelke. She took his hand with hers and took a step as Vincent lifted. Shelke looked down at the floor to see that there was a small step up to the café and, if it weren't for Vincent, would've tripped and humiliated herself. Vincent had too many mannerisms to let that happen though. The mystery girl had too little and was now biting on her notepad.

"_Scratch that. Slight intimacy but nothing big. Shelke is still a dolt. Vincent is quite the gentlemen however. Maybe too much of one_."

Inside the cyber cafe, a slight livelihood was abounding. There were cute waitresses, the sweet smell of espresso, and plenty of businessmen having meetings in front of their computers. Vincent and Shelke sat down in a booth and sat there, just like in Tifa's bar. They sat there for a good half hour before a waitress stumbled over to the table. The girl looked back at her coworkers, who were making kissy faces and screaming high pitched all lovey dovey. The girl then walked over to Shelke's side and asked for her order.

"What will it be ma'm?" she asked shyly, with her platter covering half her face. Shelke stared at the girl for a few seconds then turned to Vincent. The man took the hint and spoke.

"Ma'm we would like a caramel blended ice coffee," he said. "That is all."

The waitress looked like she was going to faint. The other female workers were shrieking happily a ways away.

"W-would you like w-whipped cream with it?" the waitress asked, at the brink of blood loss.

"That would be lovely. Thank you."

The girl ran off to her group, screaming and annoying the customers. Shelke was confused.

"Why are they doing that? I don't believe you said anything wrong."

"It's probably how I said it."

"Vincent Valentine."

"Yes?"

"You look beautiful."

"That's not how you say it to men."

"Oh. You look gorgeous."

"Many women probably call me that but again it is the wrong saying."

"What would you say to me, Vincent?"

"I'm not poetic so I want to say that you look exceptional."

"Oh. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Suddenly, a crumpled piece of paper fell on their table. Shelke reached for it and opened it. This was a rare opportunity because Shelke would never ever say this again.

"Hey there brainless idiots, I just want to say that you two fail at life and really need to get out more, losers. To hell with you fartheads, Mystery Girl."

"How inconspicuous."

"Do we need to annihilate this mystery girl?"

"Shelke, we gave up on that. Just relax."

"My apologies, Vincent."

A waitress came to their table with their drink. She looked different though.

"Here's your lousy drink. Hope you guys aren't a couple cause it disgusts me to look at you two."

Vincent and Shelke then said the same thing at the same time.

"Hello Yuffie."

"What are you two talking about?!" screamed the waitress. "Who is this Yuffie?"

"I didn't know you worked here," said Vincent.

"Are you alright, Yuffie," asked Shelke. "You seem agitated."

"Of course I'm agitated! You think so highly of yourself!"

"Yuffie?" asked Vincent.

"What!? Okay you caught me! Lighten up!"

"You look cute."

Yuffie and Shelke stopped talking. The noise in the cyber cafe weld back in while the three were completely silent. Shelke's eyes looked tired while Yuffie just stared in awe at Vincent. Vincent raised an eyebrow. Suddenly, Yuffie struggled a huge grin to hide her embarrassment.

"Aw shucks. The great Vincent Valentine learned some etiquette. I guess cavemen can evolve!"

"You're turning red."

Yuffie made a fake laugh and then turned and shuffled away. Vincent turned back to Shelke, who was cross-armed. Vincent's brow furrowed.

"She wasn't annoying you?"

"She didn't seem to annoy you, Valentine. You seemed amused."

"Shelke, I know how she thinks."

"Do you know she likes you, Valentine?"

"What?"

"She does."

"Do you?"

"What?"

"Case closed. Have a drink." Vincent handed Shelke the blended coffee. Vincent then got up and sat next to Shelke. She looked away out the window. Vincent shook his head.

"Rehabilitating's coming to a good start, eh Shelke?"

"Your presence annoys me, Valentine."

Vincent gave up the conversation. He looked to see a rather chunky girl with glasses sitting in a lounge chair looking at them. She then looked at her laptop. Then she looked at them again. She wore a dark red tank top that didn't help her look good. Her camouflage pants and combat boots contrasted her bookworm look, making her look pathetic.

"We should get to know people," said Vincent.

"Must you persist, Valentine?" asked Shelke rudely.

Monotonely, Vincent sipped from one of the two straws in the coffee. He then stood up and walked over to that other girl. She looked up past her military cap and stopped typing.

"My apologies. I just saw you looking in our direction. Can I help you with something?"

"You two make, like, the best couple for fanfictions."

"Excuse me?"

"Like, those two girls make, like, the ultimate love triangle."

"What is fanfiction?"

"Uh, fanfiction is, uh, like writing stories but about fictional characters."

"Such as?"  
"Sora and Riku. Like, my gawd they are hot together."

"Sora sounds like a fine name for a woman."

"Sora is a boy."

"Then Riku's the woman."

"Nope."

Vincent looked up, trying to figure out what was happening. A moment later, his mind clicked and he made a face, even though his face is always monotonous.

"It's, like, easy as hell. Uh, could you go back so I can study you?"

"Thank you for a disturbing time."

Vincent walked back to the table. He saw Shelke stop drinking from the coffee abruptly and turn back towards the window. Vincent sat back down.

"Who were you talking to, Valentine?"

"And here I thought you didn't want my voice."

"..."

"Let's make a fanfiction."

Shelke turned her head like a robot to stare at Vincent.

"It's like a story but we make it up."

Shelke turned towards him fully, their noses brushing. Shelke held her breath, their lips an inch apart. Vincent looked surprised but amused. Shelke quickly turned back towards the window.

"I hate you, Valentine."


	3. Research

Shelke makes a fanfiction

Belated Disclaimer: I don't know why I have to do this. I mean, if I made Final Fantasy, I'd put my crappy stories into the actual games. Whatever.

I don't own Final Fantasy or Square-Enix/Soft whatever it is now.

"Sir, can you please help us look up something?"

"Yes, what is it that you want?"

"Fanfiction."

"...Sir, I have to whisper for this. Come closer."

"Right."

"_Why the FUCK do you want fanfiction? It's enough that mindless freaks roll in here every day to grab mangas for "research" but now even you-_"

"Mangas. Thank you."

Vincent bowed to the librarian. He then turned and strode towards the Youth Literature section. The librarian crossed his arms and sat back down after he got up to whisper to Vincent.

Vincent saw Shelke sitting at a table. On it were two stacks of books. Vincent figured one was New and one was Finished. Sixteen books were in the Finished pile. They just got to the library ten minutes ago.

"Enjoying yourself, Shelke?"

"Quiet in the library, Valentine."

'Still mad,' thought Vincent. Their purpose in the library was to research fanfiction and how to utilize it. From Vincent's understanding, it was just taking a popular media (Movie, cartoon, book) and making a story revolving around that universe, preferably using the main characters but Original Characters were allowed. Shelke was researching story structure and textual flair. Vincent had to find the subject of their fanfiction that would fit what they wanted. Shelke was pissed though so he couldn't confirm her opinion.

The suited man walked over to the Graphic Novels shelf and took a gander. Gundam, Air Gear (somehow), Rave Master and more.

Vincent found the selection annoying. He grabbed for a Shoujo manga for the exaggerated romance and took a Shonen manga for senseless action and flawless heroes.

He took the books to Shelke's table and sat on the opposite side. Shelke looked intense in her reading, flipping the page every five seconds. Vincent looked at the title: Lord of The Rings.

Vincent looked at his books.

The Shoujo one was about a schoolgirl that can't seem to get the guy of her dreams to notice her. Vincent was perplexed; all the girl was doing was daydreaming and, when she actually encountered the boy, ran away in a humorous fashion. Nothing is accomplished as the girl makes up her own drama. Kinda like Yuffie.

A sneeze from the Children section sounded out, scaring several parents and their kids.

The Shonen manga wasn't as effective either. The protagonist was a high school boy that couldn't amount to anything. The next chapter suddenly had a busty ecchi girl telling him to have faith as they fought hordes of shadow bug demons. The guy had an overpowered weapon: some huge katana prototype. The girl had some weak stick that couldn't damage the demons as much as the sword could. The last chapter had the boy saving that same girl from rapists in an "impenetrable" fortress. After kicking butt, the boy professes his protection to the girl but never says anything relevant to romance. Certainly a story to boost man-egos.

Vincent finally succumbed after many years of discipline and rolled his eyes. What was this stuff?

He looked up at Shelke. She was asleep, on top of her last book. Vincent sighed and grabbed his chair. He placed it next to Shelke and sat down. She had her arms covering her face so he couldn't read her expression. Vincent leaned towards her, his lips to her ear.

"_I don't know if you're awake but I just wanted to apologize. I'm not sure how women work so I don't know what to say sometimes. But, since I'm just a man, I'll try my best to understand. If it's you, I'll do anything. Sorry._"

Vincent sat back up and stared at Shelke. She was still asleep. Vincent looked up to see the librarian walk over to them.

"You are a wise man," said Vincent.

"Very true. Anyways, the library is going to close now. It is getting late."

"I understand. Thank you sir."

The librarian walked off. Vincent looked at Shelke's books. Most of them were elaborate autobiographies and long stories. One caught his eye however.

Vincent bowed to the librarian and walked away, Shelke on his back. He heard the librarian get in a fight with some loiterers but didn't bother with it.

It was a strange feeling, having a girl on his back. She felt so soft, so delicate. If he dropped her, it felt like she could shatter into pieces. Vincent felt her breathing on his shoulder, her sweet scent weak with fatigue. The ex-Turk decided to pick up the pace as the moon rose over a building. He thought he felt some heat though in the cool night.

Mystery girl was burning with rage. What kind of man would just pick up a girl and put her on his back? Yu-mystery girl started waning as she thought of the possibly that Vincent would do the same fo-

'No!' thought Mystery girl. 'Stay focused. Gotta make it back before them!' She jumped off the building to another.

Vincent continued walking with Shelke. They made it a few blocks in front of the bar when Vincent heard something. Shelke was sniffling. Vincent stopped to look at her. Her face took on an expression of actual emotion: sadness. She struggled to hold back tears, making her sniffle cutely. She then whispered

"...Vincent..."

The man looked shocked. Though his expression still didn't change cause of his monotonous. So it was more like Vincent FELT shocked. He then smiled and walked again.

In his jacket pocket was the book that he found in Shelke's pile: the most popular manga ever.

------------------------------------------

_Well, I finally updated in, what, a million years. It's probably crap but at least I tried. Romantic hinting is not my thing._

_Admittedly, I'm fonder of Shonen than Shoujo because of its simplicity._

_Which is why Shelke's fanfiction is gonna be VERY hard to write because of the manga's romance._

_(It is very popular and I WILL FORCE them to fuck over the manga. This will piss you guys off so much. I'm already contemplating on telling you guys which one. But I'm not. Cause I'm a dick.)_

_Also, I loved typing out the Librarian conversations LOL_


	4. Cuteness

Shelke makes a fanfiction

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or Square-Enix/Soft whatever it is now.

------------------------

"Yuffie, shouldn't this be more, you know, secret? What you're telling me is gossip fodder."

"But I had to tell someone! I couldn't just pass these, these gut feelings!"

"Okay okay! You're the worst ninja ever!"

"Humbug!"

--------------------------

Tifa was sweeping the bar floor. It had just broken dawn and the fighter was already hard at work.

She was dressed in new clothes. Her outfit could be summarized as "cowgirl". The fighter had on a vest with the marks of such an animal. Underneath was a constricting brown tanktop which struggled with her chest. Going down, she had on a brown skirt just past her uncovered midriff. To finish it off, the woman had on cowboy boots that went up to her knee. Her slender thighs were exposed, completing a somewhat sexy look.

Business hadn't been booming lately but it was better now after Kadaj's escapade and the DeepGround movement. Cloud's delivery service had started to pick up now as people began feeling paranoid about leaving their homes. She was glad he came to terms with her. Maybe if she lured him with her new lingeri-

Tifa heard some yelling from up on the second floor. Down from the stairs came a scared little girl. Shelke followed right after her, looking like a robot.

Shelke wore a dress similar to the little girl. They were obviously playing dress up when an argument arose.

"Tifa!" yelled Marlene, Barret's adopted daughter. "Why is it so hard to talk to this person?"

She pointed straight at Shelke, something that would've offended a normal human being. But since Shelke isn't...

"I have not been social until just recently."

"Eeeeek! Creepy!"

Tifa sighed.

"Calm down, Marlene. Shelke is just making base with our style of living. Its a little hard for her."

"But she doesn't understand anything! I keep telling her that this stuff is too weird and she doesn't get it!"

In a split second, the room's temperature went cold. Well, at least to Shelke. She showed yet another emotion, unbeknownst to the other females in the bar.

Fear.

"Wait what? Maybe I can be clearer to her. What'd she ask?"

"She was all 'What are ways to romantically approach someone?' and I was like 'It depends on the person' and she was like 'What about Vincent?' and I said that Vincent is kinda weird with the girls. Then she asked 'How is he weird?' and stuff."

Tifa placed a finger under her chin and nodded in understanding. Then she realized what the hell she just heard.

"She wanted to know how to flirt with Vincent?"

With Marlene's nod, the temperature started rising at exaggerated increments. The two women began noticing the changing in climate and noticed that Shelke had been silent this whole time. They saw Shelke's face, down with a glow of crimson.

Embarrassment.

Tifa, seeing emotion as a sign of great peril from such a monotonous person, grabbed Marlene and placed herself between them. Shelke started twitching violently, growing a shade of red deeper than the one before.

"Listen Shelke, you can just ask me about that stuff. I know how Vincent works."

Deeper.

"I-I, no, she didn't mean to say that out loud-"

"Yes I did!"

Deeper.

"It's a secret girl thing, Marlene. You can't just blabber about that if she feels uncomfortable about that."

"I know. That's why I asked Cid to keep it a secret."

Tifa's eye twitched, fearing for their lives. She looked up at Shelke, who had started walking towards them. Her hands were out in front of her, as if to squeeze their throats. She said with a murderous double voice

"You must face the consequences."

As Shelke started her dash towards her, the door suddenly opened and in walked an innocent young woman just minding her own business.

"The great Wutai-"

Shelke crashed into Yuffie, toppling both of them to the floor. Tifa held Marlene tightly as the dust cleared from the impact of very opposite forces.

Yuffie coughed and waved through the dust cloud. Something was pinning her to the floor. As her vision returned, she realized that Shelke was sitting on her. Both of them yelled at each other.

"You!"

Shelke started blushing again, staring at the ninja under her.

"What the hell do you want now!? Can't you be just a little emotional-"

"He knows what you are like. I am jealous."

Yuffie flustered. Tifa and Marlene got curious, cautiously moving closer to them.

"W-what are you talking about?! I was just walking around the neighborhood not stalking-"

"I believe he is fond of you."

"Wha-who?"

"Vincent Valentine."

Silence envelopped the room. Tifa and Marlene looked at each other, seeing that all of Yuffie's hard work has come to fruition. The Wutai must've read their minds because she gave them a death glare. She then turned her gaze to the robot that is Shelke. She herself began to blush.

"Really?"

"From observing the context, he must be deemed a gentlemen. However, he had announced that he 'knows how you work'. I had never heard him say that before. I just wanted to ask: how come he's interested in you?"

Tifa grabbed Shelke's shoulder, realizing that she is now safe. The two girls stood up took a seat at the bar stools. Tifa and Marlene sat down themselves. The fighter decided to talk.

"You haven't met Vincent for more than a month. There's a lot of complexity to him. I don't think he really likes-"

As Tifa tried to finish her sentence, Yuffie quickly cut her off with an exaggerated wave of her hand. Upon closer inspection, the ninja's face was a mixture of intense happiness and extreme shock.

"What do you mean Tifa?! Innocent little Shelke was just asking some questions! It's important for her to ask these girl things in order for her to fit into society better!"

Tifa and Marlene facepalmed while Yuffie tugged on Shelke's cheek with a huge grin on her face.

"So Shelke, wassup!? How've you been? Sorry for crashing into you, totally my bad!"

"Yuffie, how do you...um..."

"Hmm?"

"How do you get his attention?"

Tifa began slamming her face into the counter repeatedly. Ignoring this, Yuffie replied happily.

"It must be my cute features!"

"Can I learn how?"

"All you need to do is smile!"

Shelke watched as Yuffie's grin grew larger and larger. Oddly enough, Shelke felt herself doing the same. As her smile grew, Marlene screamed at the top of her lungs. Believing she is looking at a monster, the little girl withdraws from the room and hides herself in her bedsheets.

At the same time, Cid strides in casually. He then looks at Shelke.

"The hell are you doing? Casting for a horror movie?"

Tifa and Yuffie chastised the curser for being mean. Shelke sighed and shook her head.

"No matter what I do, I can't look as cute as you."

Yuffie whipped around, face red.

"Hey now...I'm not, well, I just..."

Behind Cid now walks Vincent. He is in his suit again, carrying a briefcase. He comes up to Cid, who is still in the doorway.

"Hello Cid."

"Hey chump."

Cid then slaps him on the back.

"Guess what I heard! This little missy right here-"

Vincent didn't hear the rest of the sentence. Cid had suddenly disappeared, his staff on the floor. Vincent looked into the bar. He only saw Yuffie and Shelke still sitting there.

"Hey."

"Hello Vincent."

"Hey Vince! Wassup?"

"Just got a laptop from Reeve. Now we can start on this thing. Eh...was Cid talking about you Shelke? Did something happen?"

Shelke bit her lip, too frightened to speak up. She then uttered

"Nothing...Vince..."

Yuffie realized that Shelke had stolen her word for the man. To up the anty, Vincent smiled.

"That's cute."

Shelke blushed, the key word coming out of his lips sent directly to her.

Maybe it was just him, but Vincent felt a strong aura revolving around the room. Something like a triangle.

"Maybe I should leave. You two take care."

Vincent turned and walked off the other way.

Shelke and Yuffie sat there, not moving an inch. Half an hour passed before Shelke spoke.

"He's mine."

"No he's mine!"

The two began bickering all throughout the night.

--------------------------

Finally, I'm back again. Sorry to keep my little audience waiting. I was being insensitively lazy and had gotten addicted to Lost Zombies. Anyways, I decided to describe Tifa in detail in order to jump start myself on the fanficcing again. Cause I'm a perv.

If you want more Shelke, just motivate me with reviews. Thanks!


	5. Dressed and Sick

Shelke makes a fanfiction

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or Square-Enix/Soft whatever it is now.

* * *

Vincent stared blankly. The text box started to blur as his head drooped. He glanced to his right. There sat Shelke, now in a blue dress that was too fancy for the occasion.

He looked to his left. There sat Yuffie in a gold dress, which looked rather expensive.

He looked down. He was wearing his basic civilian clothes, which was kinda strange cause he always wore weirder clothes.

"Yuffie. Shelke. We are writing a fanfiction, not going to a ball," he said, looking up at the two of them.

"Better safe than sorry," replied Shelke.

"Yeah! You don't know when things'll come up!" yelled Yuffie.

Vincent rubbed the bridge of his nose, struggling through a headache. They were sitting at that same coffee shop. Kids and adults kept staring at the three of them. Vincent was sitting in one booth while the girls occupied the other.

"Alright. Let's start I guess."

"We will begin, Vince."

"Let's do this, Vinnie!"

Shelke eyed Yuffie but only slightly. Vincent swore Yuffie checked her own breath.

"What is the name of the manga again?" asked Vincent. Shelke checked the book in her hand.

"Melancholy of Haruhi Suzamiya."

"Alright then. We'll take turns writing a paragraph. I'll start."

Vincent began typing out the introduction based on the literature he had read. Next was Shelke. Finally, Yuffie gave it her best. Deep in Vincent's subconsciousness, he realized that Yuffie was never invited to help them. But he figured it was what Yuffie did.

Yuffie gave the laptop back to Vincent. His heart skipped a beat.

_ Kyon walked up the hill yet again. His feet grew weary with each dreaded step he took. All his life, Kyon had done a fairly good job of barely passing. His hopes for the future weren't low but they weren't exactly over and beyond._

_ He was intelligent. He was savvy. He was essential._

_ VHis personality is soooo dull! Sure, all the guys were his friends but that meant nothing to the girls! Thlke quiet ones especially hated and loathed him! Why can't he like Ythose other girls, the ones are completely open to him!?_

Vincent looked up at the girls. Both were beaming with pride (He could somehow tell with Shelke).

"Yuffie, you made a good plot revelation," said Vincent, who was on the verge of regurgitating. Under the table, Yuffie tallied a one with her finger. She smiled at Shelke.

"We can work with this concept. The whole love triangle thing seems like a complex thing." Vincent felt a pang of irony but couldn't quite place it. "Who should we make Kyon like?"

"I suggest Nagato," said Shelke.

"Of course you would!," yelled Yuffie. "You two are exactly the same!"

"Are you going to choose Suzamiya?"

Yuffie stayed silent.

Vincent sipped some of his coffee. This was going to a be a long day.

* * *

After 3 hours, they finally finished one chapter. The summary of the chapter was simple: Kyon talks to Haruhi in class where he hears of Nagato's illness. It appears to be a fluctual, intelligence flu. They left it as a cliffhanger there.

Yuffie enjoyed writing Haruhi's moments. Her three fingers under the table showing Vincent's multiple acknowledgements.

Shelke easily wrote Nagato's conversations well, as they both were silent and monotone.

Vincent called it a day and told them to do whatever they wanted for the remaining hours. As he got up to go, the girls started fighting.

"Uh, you guys okay?" asked Vincent.

"WE'RE FINE!" they spoke in unison, still pushing each other. Vincent shrugged and began walking.

* * *

He fired another shot. All three bullets hit the box.

Vincent was on the outskirts of town, shooting at objects with his gun Cerberus. As he aimed his next shot, he heard his ringtone. Spinning his gun into his holster with one hand while taking out his cellphone with the other, he posed badass poses. He then sighed at the interruption, hoping that it wasn't Yuffie prank calling him.

The ringer ID was Tifa.

"Hello Tifa," he greeted with a scratchy voice.

"Vincent! You need to get back here now! Something's wrong! I don't get it-"

"Tifa, calm down." His voice trembled slightly with suspense. "What's going on?"

"The girl! Shelke! She's sick!!"

* * *

Yuffie sat by Shelke, who was bedridden in the bar's upper floor. Marlene watched in horror by the door. Tifa walked in with a wet towel in hand.

"How's she doing Yuffie?" she asked as she placed it on Shelke's forehead.

"She's better but her fever won't go down," Yuffie replied.

The girls heard a door slam followed by pounding on the stairs. Vincent whipped in quickly and rushed to the bedside.

"Shelke" was all he said as he loomed over her. Shelke was reddened in the face. Other than her laborous breathing, she seemed fine. Tifa walked Vincent out to the hallway.

Yuffie watched Tifa talk to Vincent, obviously discussing what to do with Shelke. The ninja looked back to Shelke. She was soundly asleep, though was having trouble breathing.

Vincent came back in and stood by Yuffie.

"What did you guys do when I was gone?" he asked without looking away from Shelke.

Which made Yuffie's intense glare very inefficient.

"Hey! It's not my fault! We just came back here to talk about our plan to-" Yuffie covered her mouth quickly.

Vincent glanced at the materia stealer.

"You two chat normally now?"

"Uh, yeah," Yuffie laughed. "We're bestest friends now." Yuffie smiled at Vincent but started frowning when he didn't respond.

"Vincent?"

"Oh sorry," he said as he got out of his trance. "I was just taking that in."

Yuffie crossed her arms and looked away, agitated by Vincent's sarcasm. The man walked up to Shelke. He began bending down so that their faces were close together. Yuffie looked at Shelke and gasped slightly.

Shelke's lips were pouting. Her eyes weren't entirely closed.

'That tricky witch!' thought Yuffie. Suddenly, Vincent got back up.

"I've seen this sickness before," he said. "I'll be right back." He walked out of the room and hurried down the stairs. A minute passed before Shelke sat up, her face returning to its original color. She had a subtle frown.

"Darn," Shelke said.

Yuffie jumped on the bed and shook the sick girl.

"That was cheating! You can't do that!"

"No. Holds. Barred."

Tifa came in and seperated the two.

"What is wrong with you, Yuffie?!"

"She was faking it!"

Tifa blinked and looked at Shelke. She was completely fine. Shelke decided to explain.

"I can adjust the mako level in my body. I used it on espionage missions to change my body temperature."

Tifa slapped herself in the face upon realizing their goals. Marlene just stared, bewildered at the chaos.

Vincent came back into the room, holding a bottle of glowing substance. He looked around.

Tifa was sitting on a chair, face in her hands.

Marlene stood next to him, tugging at his pants.

Yuffie was in the middle of strangling Shelke.

Shelke was sitting there, making no emotion. It was as if she wore a necklace rather than Yuffie's life-wrenching hands.

"Uh...I got some Mako," he said.

Shelke's eyes widened.

"How did you know...?"

"I remember every moment with you," he said, going into his angst mode. "There was the part in the trainyard where you had to step in the machine. I felt bad that you had to do that because I over wore you. I kept a bottle of mako ever since just in case you fell ill again. I thought you were over it though."

Yuffie rolled her eyes.

"She's fine, Vince."

"Look again."

Everyone, including Tifa, stared at Shelke. Her face was turning red again.

"Remember...every moment with me?" she whispered only so Yuffie could hear.

Vincent walked forwards, preparing to open the bottle.

"Her fever's acting up agai-"

Vincent was suddenly at the bottom of the stairs, the door locked behind him.

Yuffie went back up the stairs, stomping as angrily as she could. Back in the room, Shelke walked around while Tifa took the bed to stop her own headache. Shelke saw Yuffie come back up.

"Yuffie," she said.

"What?!"

Shelke smiled creepily and raised her index finger, signifying a one.


	6. Stress

Shelke makes a fanfiction

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy or Square-Enix/Soft whatever it is now.

* * *

_ "Kyon! She doesn't have a cold anymore!" yelled the ecstatic Haruhi. I turned to face her, shocked at what she was telling me._

_"She doesn't? That's relieving." I then chuckled and started walking up the stairs. Nagato was now fine. There wasn't anything to worry about now that the alien can continue doing what she does._

_ "Kyon."_

_ I tilted my head. Haruhi sounded almost weak. I decided to give her my attention instead of tuning her out._

_ "What's up?"_

_ Haruhi looked like she was going to cry. Kyon didn't understand what was going on. Finally, the girl burst out with tears_

_ "Why don't you ever care about me like that!? How come she's more important to you!?!"_

_ I stood there stunned. Here everything was going great and now she threatened the universe over something so trivial._

_ "Haruhi, she is a friend. Of course I have to be worried when one of you fall ill."_

_ "Dammit Kyon! Why don't you give me any attention!?"_

Yuffie stopped there after realizing that it was getting late. The idea just popped out to her while she was sleeping.

Vincent had her hold onto the laptop as she seemed the most prominent writer of the fanfic. Even though the entire point of this project was to rehabilate Shelke into society again.

Yuffie laid in her bed, the laptop next to her head. She really liked fanfics. She did like other things which could be affecting why she just can't stop typing, as she put her emotions into writing. Such as her hatred of Sh-I mean, Nagato.

'I can't let her take him,' she whispered, muffled in her pillow. 'He means too much. I won't let her!'

* * *

"Sure. I'll go with you Shelke."

As those words escaped from Vincent's lips, Yuffie felt a dead weight tie around her heart. They were in that cafe again, working on the fanfiction, when the incident occured.

The story was going nicely. Vincent figured out that some fanfics were too predictable. I mean, Kyon getting together with Haruhi is one of the most over-used plotlines ever. So he agreed with Shelke's expansion on the love triangle. It worked to keep the reader on their toes.

Just as Vincent accepted her eagerness to work, she asked him to see the play Loveless. This was the exact conversation.

"We should continue to play on the conflict," said Shelke robotically. Vincent stopped typing and looked up.

"How so?" he asked.

"We want to toy with the reader's expectations. I believe our priorities should be of the audience's undivided attention."

Vincent smiled. "You're getting good at this, Shelke."

Yuffie looked at the orange haired girl, slightly agitated.

"Why should we do that?!" she growled. "You know that Kyon and Haruhi belong together!"

Vincent failed to notice Yuffie's unsubtle glance towards him.

"Please understand Yuffie," Shelke responded. "The further complication of the love triangle will turn our small story into a gripping tale of dramatic events. It will entangle the readers and keep them wanting to see the outcome."

Yuffie narrowed her eyes, seeing something that she never saw before.

On the side that was away from Vincent, Shelke had a slight smirk.

"In consideration, Yuffie, I believe that Kyon and Nagato would look great together."

Just as Yuffie was about to object in the most indiscreet way, Vincent nodded his head.

"We can't deter from that possibility either," he reminisced. "Kyon and Nagato do have a strong bond. They could be- (This crushed Yuffie badly) more than friends."

Shelke held out two fingers underneath the table.

Yuffie slammed her fists into the coffee pot, shattering it on impact. The whole place grew quiet as the ninja seethed with anger.

"Why are you taking her side!? That's not right!"

Shelke looked at Yuffie indifferently, which further fueled her anger. Yuffie opened her eyes from frustration and turned to Vincent.

If you're reading this, I'm assuming that you have a great understanding of at least Final Fantasy 7. With that said, I'm sure that you understand the generic monotone, apathetic feelings that Vincent shows.

Vincent was in shock. Not because he had widened his eyes further than ever done before (Which is, sadly, not much) or because he had to pay for the enormous bill and complaints that would soon follow. From his surprised look, Yuffie could tell too.

Vincent facepalmed. He figured Yuffie was emotionally troubled again. He figured Yuffie was very stressed again. Instead of ignoring her like all those other times, however, he decided to actually take action.

"How about we have a break?" he said.

Shelke and Yuffie stared blankly at him. Vincent rubbed the bridge of his nose, the general irritation returning to him.

"We've been at this for a week or so already. I think we should do something to freshen our minds again."

Yuffie frowned. She was upset that Vincent didn't accept her request on the story but she was elated that he took her seriously and actually did something about it this time.

As the Wutai ninja sighed in relief, Shelke decided to speak up.

"Vincent."

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm capable of socializing now."

"Good. You can use this time to explore then."

"Um. Vincent."

"What?"

"I'm still a little...flawed. ?"

With her quick speaking and monotone expression, it sounded like she was reciting some sort of alien code.

Unfortunately, Yuffie was the first to decrypt it.

"WHAT?!" was the ninja's reply.

"What?" was Vincent's confused response.

Shelke cleared her throat with a cute squeak. A sudden glow of red emminated from her face.

"I saw a poster. It was titled Loveless."

Yuffie's jaw dropped. There was no way this- this girl- could have said that! Yuffie watched Vincent in fear.

Vincent had no clue what was going on. Dyuwantogoseeaplawemee? And a poster. With the title-

"Oh. The play?" asked Vincent. He watched the reddening girl nod her head.

"You wanted to go see the play?"  
Nod.

"Sure, I'll go with you."

Shelke stared at Vincent like a deer caught in a light. Yuffie stared as if she saw a monster.

"How about it Yuffie? You want to see the play too?"

Shelke stared as if she saw a puppy get kicked. Yuffie grinned as if there was no tomorrow.

"SURE VINNIE!!!! I'D LOVE TOO!!!!"

Vincent noticed that every person in the cafe was staring at them. The ninja stood on her bench and started citing her usual self-proclamation speech while the man waved to her to get down. Shelke was staring out the window.


	7. Maturity

_BTW, I'm not into Final Fantasy. I just liked playing DirgeOfCerberus. But I haven't played it in 4 years. So, sorry for the lack of enthusiasm to the locations, characters, and items._

* * *

Shelke walked to the store. Yes, by herself. Why was she going by herself? Well, it seemed she wanted to save her appearance for the big night. She didn't want to ruin Vincent's day by letting him see her drabby outfits before the play.

Loveless. The orange haired girl saw it on a poster just the other day. Having no clue what a play is, the girl proceeded to search the "anomaly" on the good ol Net. It turns out that a play is an exubberent watching of a live performance about drama/tragedy/comedy. The audience were either eating dinner while watching or just sitting there and watching. The one playing "near you" was just a sitdown play but that provided less distraction. Less distraction for her, Vincent, and...

Okay, it wasn't going to be that big of a night. In fact, it may as well be a bust. Shelke and, um, the mysterious girl, would banter endlessly, forcing Vincent to pinch the bridge of his nose and walk away yet again.

No.

This time, she was going to be mature about it and not pick a fight with the ninja. They were on a break and Shelke felt terrible if she was the cause of her partner's discontent.

Partner...the thought of it made her heart beat ever so faster.

"I have a heart?" Shelke asked herself monotonely, stopping on the front step of the store. She stayed there, trying to make sense of the concept. After a few minutes, she realized the heart was an important organ in the human body so she pressed on.

She stepped into the store, prompting its little bell to jingle. Shelke quickly became distraught by the massive selection of formal evening wear (She stole her last idea from Yuffie). There were elegant black dresses, vivacious white gowns, devilishly crimson skirts. There was so many to choose from that any girl would take hours upon hours scouring the entire store!

Unfortunately, Shelke was not one of those girls. Her mindset was more into, er...battle tactics than anything.

She saw a random piece of clothing. Thinking it looked "nice", the girl immediately took it to the clerk who was reading the local paper. The blonde lady in charge, dressed in a seamless red chinese dress, looked up and laughed. She then stood up, revealing her unfathomably slender legs protruding from the slits of her long skirt.

"You really think that's fitting, sugar?" she asked Shelke. The woman was, you know, all up in her face. That's how you say it, right?

Having no idea why the woman would call her an alternative name for the sucrose molecule, Shelke stood there perplexed.

"Girl, you don't even know how to hold it!" continued this elegant woman.

Shelke looked at her dress. Most of it was balled up in her clenched fist. Shelke decided to reply to this one.

"Its to keep it safe."

"You protecting it from someone?" asked the blonde woman. "Its not like it going to skedaddle from you, hun."

The bell above the door rang but it didn't jolt the orange haired girl from her acute state of mind. What followed did.

"I'll help her look for something nice," came a voice from the door. It was incredibly familiar to Shelke yet she could not place it.

"Well alright then," said the clerk as she turned around shrugging. "This girl here needs some issues rearranged." The woman promptly swayed her hips and went back to reading her paper. Shelke heard something clopping towards her. Could it be high heels?

"It's been a while, Shelke."

Shelke took a battle stance and quickly yelled "You!" in an overly-epic anime way. Well, that's what she wanted to do. Instead, she let out a monotone "You" while pivoting on one foot.

Standing behind her was a beautiful woman with tied orange hair, sultry glasses, and a posture that demanded attention from any man in the vicinity. She had on a white lab coat, which didn't hide her risque magenta-colored outfit underneath.

A soul forgotten by the former Deepground agent and everyone who had called her a friend, mentor, sister.

Shalua Rui. Shelke's sister.

In Shelke's mind, she was absolutely dumbstuck by her sudden appearance. However, like always, she never showed it on the outside. In fact, Shelke gave her sister a rather disdain glare.

"How did you manage to survive?" Shelke asked bluntly, though it was all in good taste.

Shalua simply smiled.

"Seems you've changed a little," Shalua laughed, putting her hands on her hip. "You sound enthusiastic to see me!"

"How did you know?" Shelke asked monotonely, which only made Shalua all the more blithe.

"I'm your sister Shelke. I know these things."

"Why are you here?"

"Are you really that persistent on that? Why is my little Shelke suddenly trying to dress up?"

"Ah. An eye for an eye."

That saying made Shalua confused. As she stroked her own face in thought, her fingers glided across her one closed eyelid.

"Oh." Shalua smiled. "That was a good pun, Shelke."

"Ha." Yes, that was Shelke laughing. Seriously, that's how she laughed.

"Well, I'm here because I'm planning to see a play with an old friend of mine."

"An acquaintance? Reeve perhaps?"

"No, it hits more home than that."

Shelke stood there for awhile before the idea dawned on her.

"You don't happen to be going to a play called "Loveless" now are you?" asked Shelke with as much condescending tone as possible. Shalua, with her one eye, looked at the concerned girl.

"Vincent will be there, yes" replied Shalua. "He asked me to go."

The shorter girl took a step back, distraught at Vincent's decision. Shelke immediately took on an angry disposition.

"You may as well stay in that water tank," said Shelke.

Instead of getting offended, Shalua merely smiled.

Shelke, having enough of her sister even though they had only conversed for two minutes, immediately began walking away. Many things crossed her mind as she trekked towards the fitting room.

For example: Why bother dressing up when Valentine was going to be staring at her well-endowed sister the whole time?

Why even try if she was just another girl on his list of heartbroken girls?

As she reached the entrance to the rooms, Shelke felt a hand grab her shoulder.

"I need to explain the situation, Shelke," said Shalua.

"What is it?" asked Shelke monotonely, who didn't even look back.

Shalua sighed and hugged her sister from behind.

"Yes, Vincent asked me to go but I decided to go because I wanted to see my new sister."

Again, Shelke doesn't show emotion too well. However, being the sister that she is, Shalua felt a sort of bashfulness from Shelke.

"He wanted to go to the play because he wanted to see the new you in action," she continued, holding her younger sister closer. "Which is the same reason I'm going. You have changed, Shelke. The first time I saw you after all those years, I started crying because of what they did to you. You weren't human anymore and it was all my fault. It took years of researching but I was too late. However, while I was in that coma, Vincent brought you out of that unmalleable shell. He got you to change."

Shelke, still in her sister's grasp, struggled to get out.

"You are mistaken, sister." Shelke yelled. Yes, yelled. "I have not changed one bit. The ten year gap is still there and will never relinquish."

Shalua directed Shelke in a different direction. Shelk stopped as they faced a gigantic mirror meant for evaluating ones own appearance.

"No," corrected Shalua. "You have changed, Shelke."

In the reflection stood the two sisters side by side. Shalua was still the same save for a few metal scars (damage caused by Azul) residing on parts of her body.

Shelke, who had only used mirrors to self-assess her battle wounds, was reluctant to look up. However, the sight before her astounded her.

Shelke was expecting a 12 year old girl wearing a blue Mako Battle suit. Instead, she found a young adult woman. She wore a black skirt coupled with a clean white lacey blouse which was snug on her matured endowments. Instead of just being stuck at the height of Shalua's chest, she was shocking at her chin. Her orange hair, which was previously short and stuck out at certain places, was almost touching her shoulder.

Shelke was now 17.

"Do you see the contrast?" Shalua asked sweetly. "You are not just a soldier anymore. You are my sister. My Shelke. The one I worked so hard to save."

Shelke saw that Shalua had begun tearing up. That compelled her to ask Shalua.

"Can I? Am I allowed to do the same?"

Shalua merely hugged her sister, her face buried in Shelke's neck. The former soldier then felt a change in complexion.

She looked in the mirror and saw that she too had tears.

"Dang it, Vincent! Why did you do that?" yelled Yuffie, obviously ticked off. Vincent stared at the girl with a nauseated look. The two of them were sitting in 7th Heaven in one of the booths. Tifa closed it for the night so that she could see the play along with everyone else. They hadn't gone to a social gathering together in a while. With Shelke as an addition, it gave all the more reason for all of them to go.

Vincent was dressed in a black version of his Turk suit (Sorry, no detail-porn here). The only difference was that this one had the swallow tail. His hair was combed back (Yes, BACK). To top it off, he had white gloves on and

Yuffie had on a cute Wutai dress that reached her ankles. It was a soft green with a floral design on the skirt part of it. It was strapless, exposing her shoulders completely. Also, she was wearing white high heels with accompanying white leggings that ended just at her thighs (Not that Vincent could see it, its just that he realized Yuffie always wore leggings). She wasn't really comfortable in the outfit but it was all to impress a certain someone.

"I wanted everyone to see the new Shelke," replied the vampire-esque man, completely ignoring her beautiful dress. He crossed his arms, further implicating that he really doesn't care. "Besides, if it's with three people then might as well have more."

Yuffie suddenly got giddy, despite Vincent's lack of attention.

"Then get one of them to go away!" cheered Yuffie with her trademark grin.

Vincent just glared at the girl, trying to undermine her absolute failure in logic. If he made Shelke go away, then he would've rudely declined her invitation. Continuing to the play without her would not only be hypocritical but would inevitably cause the girl to forget the past few weeks and start brooding. Thus making the whole project pointless.

Vincent attempted to explain this but got a Yuffie response

"Not fair!"

And that's how it was settled. Vincent looked to the stairs from the bar's booth. Down strolled Barrett and Marlene, dressed in formal wear. Barrett's gun arm was covered by a fancy crimson cloth. Basically, he could pull off some sort of royalty.

"That is very hard to look at," Vincent said in response to Barret wearing a suit. Barrett stared at the ex-Turk with a combination of surprise and conform.

"I agree," sighed Barrett as he led Marlene to a bar stool. "I just can't, you know, BOOM with this!"

Vincent decided to completely ignore the man and continue to sit there as the rest of the crew filed down from the stairs. Why everyone changed at the same time was beyond him.

Once everyone was downstairs and ready, they realized they were missing two people.

"Cloud's picking up Shelke," Tifa reassured. "She was on a different part of Edge so I had Cloud take Fenrir out to get her. They should be back soon."

"Well, they better hurry," Cid grunted. "I actually want to see the whole thing this time."

Everyone rolled their eyes at the same time. A moment later, the door to the bar opened. In walked a Cloud, dressed in a suit almost identical to Vincent's.

No wait, let me look again.

Nope, its the exact same suit. I guess Cloud doesn't have any taste for formal wear so he asked Vincent for help. Since Vincent has practically no variety...

"Yo," said Cloud broodingly.

"Yo," said Vincent in his emo raspy voice.

The two raised their left hands to the side of their head, throwing up the peace sign. This exchange of gestures was made silently as no one wanted to intrude on such an unnatural moment. Slowly, they lowered their hands, completing a somewhat uncomfortable greeting. As everyone tried to stay silent, Cloud thumbed backwards.

"I brought her."

At the right moment, Shelke herself walked into the bar. She was wearing a strapless cocktail dress, midnight black, that was fastened at the waist by a fitting length of leather. The hem of her skirt, which barely reached her knees, was lacey and contained silver wispy patterns leading up, looking like the clouds cast in moonlight. White crystals were embedded on the skirt as well, giving the skirt the look of the midnight sky. Shelke also had on elegant black gloves that reached her elbows and a long transparent scarf around her neck.

The girl also changed her hairstyle. Instead of the tomboyish cut that she had, her hair was now tied in a lavish ponytail.

The "oohs" and "ahhs" were enough to reassure Shelke that she had not dressed terribly. Yuffie showed mixed expressions of jealousy, envy, and plain happy. Vincent raised an eyebrow.

Apparently, it got his attention.

* * *

_Next up: The crew watches the play. Will it be a success or will some convinient plot device ruin the night!_

_Just a forewarning, IDK much about Loveless. Most of you probably memorized Genesis's quotes by heart but that's too much for me. Plus I never played Crisis Core._

_Anywho, describing women is a pain. You have to make them beautiful(er) than everyone else. Ficcers who detail women perfectly are either other women, guys that study into women cosmetics and what not, or copy/paste from Google. Its a royal pain in the ass but I wanted to give Shelke the respect she deserves._

_Btw, notice how I slowly describe Shelke more and more, paralleling her own character building._


	8. Loveless

Guess what got me back on this fanfic? The Let's Play Dirge of Cerberus by The Dark Id. How depressing.

_When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end_

_The goddess descends from the sky-_

Cid began to snore. Tifa elbowed him awake.

"Hey, thanks Teef," he groaned as he stretched. "Now I can save face."

Tifa huffed and returned to an elated mood as she refocused on the play at hand. To her right was Cloud. He was giving the play its full undivided attention. He even had his arms crossed in total seriousness. Barrett and Marlene had to sit in the back of the threater because, well, it's Barrett. They had Yuffie with them to keep them company.

However, the ninja's attention was not on the LOVELESS play before them. Oh no no. It was on the brooding hero known as Vincent Valentine and the ever analytical Shelke Rui. Because of Shelke's persistence-

"I must sit in the front." said Shelke dryly.

"Sure." replied Vincent with one syllable.

-the two were in the front row, watching the play for the full effect. If only she didn't brag about seeing it so much that she could've sat with them.

"Bah, it wouldn't have worked out anyways," Yuffie mumbled as she put her head on her hands. "Building a trapdoor under Shelke would've been too much commotion if I sat up front."

"_Yuffie_?" whispered Marlene.

"What?" hissed the Wutai girl.

"_Aren't you happy for her_?"

"Why the crap would I be?"

"_She was such a robot a few weeks ago but now she's a new person! I can actually talk to her without running away_."

"Deepground did that to people. I'd hate it if I was lifeless too."

Yuffie then put her head back on her seat and closed her eyes.

"_Yuffie?"_

"What!"

"_What did she do? You know, while she was a bad guy?"_

"She did something that let her dive into the Worldwide Network."

"_Ooh. She can do that?"_

"Yep, but I don't know if she can still do it."

_"Is that how she made those stories?"_

"What stories?"

_"The, um, fanfiction was it?"_

"Oh yeah those. We used the public version of the WWN on a laptop so in a way she did."

_"Are those fun to do?"_

"No. They're stupid. I hate them."

_"I thought you had fun. You always jumped around whenever Vincent brought his laptop-"_

Yuffie put a hand over Marlene's mouth and said OOC "Erase that from your little head! There is nothing going on!"

Now that I think about it, it really isn't OOC. Afterall, the ninja girl was fuming like always which added humor to an otherwise intense moment in Marlene's life. So the little girl merely giggled after pushing Yuffie's button.

"Achoo." said Vincent.

"Bless you." said Shelke.

The two sat there, intently watching the play. The two of them noticed that a few of the actors were hesitating on their lines. Apparently, the way the two were staring was so discomforting that the play was reluctant on continuing. Vincent noticed and decided to murmur to Shelke, relieving the cast of their fixated gaze.

"Was it fun?" he asked in a raspy tone.

"Define fun." replied Shelke on equal level.

"The fanfiction."

"Ah yes. They are fun."

"I'm glad they were."

The actors again were hesitant. Vincent turned back to Shelke.

"I forgot to give you something," said Vincent. He reached into his coat pocket (He was wearing a black version of his Turk suit) and took out small velvet box.

"A box? Why thank you Vincent. I need one to store my cellphone-"

"There's something in the box."

"Oh. Well I can use it as a paperweight then."

Vincent smiled, admiring her sarcasm.

"What is it?" asked Shelke seriously. Vincent briskly got down on one knee and held the box towards her. Shelke, having not watched tear jerking romances as much as any normal girl, thought he was performing some sort of shamanic ritual. Or something.

"Shelke," the emo started, "My world has changed in such little time. My misfortune has been lifted and a new light has entered my heart."

Although Shelke wasn't one for girlish squealing and blushing hysterically, Shelke understood metaphors and gave a sweet smile in exchange. Vincent hesitated a little, her smile getting to him. Then he continued with new renown.

"For so long, I thought I would forever be useless and unforgivable. But everyone, especially you, changed my perception on life and my future."

"The same for I, Vincent."

The two of them stared at each other, sharing each other's passion for starting anew.

"Seems we're both on the same boat," Vincent chuckled.

"What?" asked Shelke.

"Nothing. Anyways, we got so far along together. Here's something I've been meaning to give you for a long time."

As Vincent prepared to open the box, a certain person dove at them after running through the aisle.

After yelling the dramatic no, Yuffie landed next to Shelke and began yelling. Before this, Vincent and Shelke were doing this quietly (to an extent) and let the play continue. Plus everyone tried to look away sheepishly from their passionate bout. The same couldn't be said about Yuffie.

"Vincent! Think about what you're doing here!"

Tifa's facepalm was audible to even them.

"You have so much more to do in your short life!"

"I'm over 100 years old," he replied. Yuffie then jumped on the stage and began marching on the edge. The crowd began yelling a lot. Even Barrett was yelling and that's more than enough.

"Why ask the question now when you can hold off and find the right one! Your true partner!"

She began holding her hand to her heart and performing any other love gestures you could think of. On the other hand, the LOVELESS crew actually liked this turn of events. The stringing together of the triangle. Who shall prevail and who shall fall?

In fact, it was getting so heated that the audience turned tail and began worrying in suspense.

"What's it gonna be then, Vinnie?" the ninja pointed at Shelke, who still doesn't get the concept that it was rude. "That girl that you just met a few months ago." Yuffie put her hand on the back of her head shyly. Her heart raced, eliciting a heavy blush on her face. "Or your one true love who never left your side, who always longed for your embrace, who stared at your backside for far too long-"

Vincent opened the box, revealing a necklace.

"Oy vey," said Yuffie as she fainted, falling off the stage.


End file.
